P5 Say No to Single Use Plastic

Did you know about 40% of plastic made is for single use items? After learning about plastic pollution and our oceans, Primary 5 decided to investigate how much single use plastic was used in our very own school dinners.

At the beginning of February, our class spent a week collecting in the single use plastic juice cups used for school dinners. We collected, cleaned and counted all juice Artois used by pupils having school dinners. We were shocked to find out that in one week we threw away 533 plastic juice cartons! We calculated that over the school year that would be about 21,320 in a year! We couldn’t believe it! We know that to tackle the plastic problem, EVERYONE must do their part. We thought how many would be thrown away in schools across the city.

We spoke to our dinner ladies about swapping single use plastic juice cartons to jugs and reusable cups. They agreed this was a good idea! We know that children have the right to share their opinions and for adults to listen and take them seriously, so we decided to spread the word!

We have been writing to politicians and managers from our council about the plastic problem. We also want more children to look at their own plastic use and think what changes they can make!